Analysis of MyPerfectWedding.com - Case Study Example

Analysis of MyPerfectWedding.com What is Jessica’s strategy? Jessica Eggleston has developed a great start-up idea of creating online business MyPerfectWedding.com. She has recognized a market opportunity and decided to move on with this idea. Jessica has created a website devoted to wedding theme and focused on a specific geographic area of North Carolina. Her idea was to create a central Internet platform where people would register gift preferences for wedding event. This platform also was supposed to provide people with information related to wedding and offers of local-wedding related services. The revenue was supposed to be generated through sponsorship and advertising fees of service providers including: local retailers, catering companies, florists, home builders, insurance agents, etc. It is difficult to say that Jessica had a well-developed strategy as there was no strategic plan designed on how to engage potential visitors and attract potential sponsors and local suppliers (Perreault et al. 2013). Jessica’s did not have a strategy. She had a plan, which was not thoroughly developed. Jessica’s target audience was comprised of two different categories: internet users searching for wedding-related services (B2C) and information and local suppliers of wedding-related services (B2B). The main idea of revenue generation was laid on recruiting local advertisers and sponsors, who would pay for being listed at the website with a webpage of description, contacts, links. In terms of marketing mix, the four P’s can be defined as follows: Product: Website MyPerfectWedding.com, which offers several major services to its users: Online wedding gift registry; Information about typical wedding costs, planning checklists, and other helpful information; Discussion forum with comments of suppliers; Blog with a feedback from customers (Perreault et al. 2013). Price: $20 membership fee for a year by credit card for website users $2400 advertising fee a year for suppliers (Perreault et al. 2013). Place: Website was the only place for providing services to potential customers and users Promotion: Colorful flyers describing website sent to firms participating in the bridal fair Cold calls during lunch hours for engaging local suppliers; Display ads in local Sunday newspapers Listing the website with 25 Internet search engines Press releases in local publications Google AdWords (keyword: wedding) (Perreault et al. 2013). What should Jessica do? Jessica needs to decide whether she is going to proceed with her business idea or not. It is a strategic decision, which will make her to reconsider her current approach to business. For 18 months of website existence, the project has not be successful as it failed to generate revenue and it still requires investment. Probably, Jessica could quit this idea and focus on her main job. However, if she really wants to have additional source of revenue with minimum involvement in future she needs to work hard now in order to develop a sustainable business. If she were to move forward, what strategy would you recommend? First, Jessica needs to develop a business plan. Even though it is mentioned in the case study that she is not a planner but a doer, she will hardly succeed in the future without having clearly identified goals, objectives, set of activities, financial and marketing plan. Secondly, there are two different areas, on which Jessica needs to focus on: (1) website users; and (2) local suppliers and other companies. Both these categories of customers are essential for Jessica’s business as they are closely interrelated to each other. Website users will generate activity on the website and thus will make it attractive for advertising purposes. Therefore, Jessica needs to develop a more comprehensive marketing communication plan aiming to meet the needs and expectations of both groups of customers. Jessica needs to reconsider its marketing mix strategy, focusing mainly on pricing and promotion strategies. Below are given some brief recommendations regarding these strategies. Pricing strategies Users of the website are charged $20 a year for a membership fee (Perreault et al. 2013). Users are supposed to pay be credit card for this fee. Jessica needs to carry out a more detailed analysis of whether this fee is appropriate based on what the competitive firms charge for similar service. Also, it might be useful to carry out a market research online asking visitors of the website about their perceptions of what the fee should be. It may seem that this fee is very low. However, taking into consideration the nature of wedding event, it is only a one-time event with several months/weeks of preparation. Therefore, it is possible to assume that many users will use website for a limited period. It is critical to engage continuously new visitors in order to generate activity on the website. The company also established a $2400 advertising fee a year for suppliers (Perreault et al. 2013). While it is not clear how Jessica has decided of what the price should be, it is obvious that she needs to reconsider this decision. Taking into consideration that local firms are not used to Internet advertising and there is no clear evidence of website effectiveness in terms of generating leads and sales, it is natural that nobody is eager to pay such a sum of money. Therefore, Jessica is recommended to split a sum of $2400 into 12 months and offer its potential advertisers different packages, including a trial package for 1-3 months period. Also, it might be necessary to lower the advertising fee in order to make it more attractive to potential customers. Once the advertising will generate increasing number of leads, Jessica may increase the fee. Promotion strategy: Jessica has not developed a clear promotion strategy enabling it to communicate her messages to its target audience. While advertising initiatives undertaken in order promote the website among potential advertisers seems to be logical and rational, there are some mistakes that need to be addressed. The only thing potential advertisers are interested in is the number of customers/sales generated through advertising/promotion. In order to attract advertisers, Jessica’s website has to be popular in terms of the number of visits of the website and time the visitors spend on the website. Otherwise, it is not clear to whom advertising will be displayed if there are no/limited number of visitors. Therefore, Jessica needs to concentrate all efforts now at subscribing and attracting potential users of the website. She needs to continue use Good AdWords more effectively by using more specific keywords, such as: wedding in North Carolina (and major big cities in the state). It is important to make the keywords as specific as possible in order to attract “right audience”. Secondly, Jessica is recommended to focus on social media networks, including Facebook and Instagram. She needs to create a Facebook page specifically for wedding in North Carolina and engage with its potential fans through different initiatives and contests. Also, she needs to create account on Instagram and be active there as well. As soon as Jessica will generate efficient number of website visitors and users, it may target key advertisers. Also, it is possible to launch some loyalty programs or discounts for first subscribers and advertisers. Does her financial goal seem realistic? Why? Jessica’s financial goal seems to be realistic as Internet business offers great opportunities. Jessica stated a financial goal of $30, 000 a year. This goal can be achieved if the website will generate efficient number of visitors and will be attractive for advertisers and sponsors. References: Perreault, W., Cannon, J. and McCarthy, E. (2013). Basic marketing. Read More